Denise's Yadda Yadda on Soap Making, Crafts & Personal Ramblings

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

It's just my opinion, but I believe Go Planet Earth (GPE) and Mold Market (MM) have some of the best soap colors on the market. Just take a look at some of the color intensity intensity that you can achieve with our liquid gel colorants.

I think many of my long-term customers will agree it's hard to beat the color results you get with our Neon Brights.

Look for an upcoming tutorial that showcases the technique used to make these colorful layered soaps. All were made with Mold Market molds.

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

There are plenty of changes and new in the works at our parent company, Nouveau Designs LLC. Recently, we set up a fulfillment center in Spokane, Washington which is where Mold Market brand molds are manufactured. This means most orders ship the same day as received. That's a big plus in our minds.

Now that the hectic move is over, we are concentrating on our new line of chalk paints. We are in the process of testing, testing and then more testing. The results are exceptional and we plan to launch this new product within the next two weeks.

If you are not familiar with chalk paints, let me share with you what this amazing product can do.

This non-carcinogenic paint covers everything, no kidding! It can be use on glass, metal, wood, leather, Formica, concrete and even fabric.

With this paint, you can literally start and finish a piece of furniture within a day.

No prep work (like sanding) is required.

Paint colors can be layered to achieve a distressed look (shabby chic) to your project.

28 colors available

Colors can be blended to create a custom color

One pint of paint will easily cover up to 50 square feet. If you think in the terms of furniture, that's two dressers.

Water-based, so it cleans up easily with water.

The possibilities of this chalk paint are endless. In January 2015 we will introduce a new product line to use with our Mold Market chalk paint. However, 'HUSH' is the word for now.

A one-pint container of Mold Market Chalk Paint retails for $22.95 and a 4-ounce jar retails at $9.95.

We will also offer a line of Metallic Dusting Powders to enhance the finished look of your chalk painted projects.

Take a look at some of the furniture and projects we have done with these awesome paints.

Sunday, December 14, 2014

A few days ago I posted on how to snowflake window ornaments from crocheted doilies. Here are a few of the finished results. My granddaughter, Olivia, and two of her friends had a great time sprinkling the glitter on the doilies. Of course, the island counter in the kitchen was one sticky mess.

A spray adhesive was used to apply the glitter. The technique was more like spray, sprinkle and shake. The excess glitter was collected off the craft trays for a future project.

My personal taste leaned more toward white sparkle and iridescent shred glitters, but the girls were all about pink and purple. No matter the color of glitter used, they were all beautiful. Each of the girls took home two snowflake doilies to hang in the bedroom window.

Saturday, December 13, 2014

This easy holiday decor was made from a thrift store picture frame, minus the cracked glass, and and miscellaneous ornaments. Ribbon remnants were used to string the ornaments to the back of the frame. For ease, I used a general purpose staple gun to hold the ribbon-strung ornaments to the back-side of the frame.

The original color of the frame was silver, but I painted it red and then sanded areas of the frame to allow the under-layer of silver to show through.

This holiday frame has so many possibilities. You can hang on the wall or place on a shelf unit. A over the door hanger is another option (the kind you use to hang a door wreath).

The glass could have left in the frame and a window rub-off applique applied beneath the Christmas bulbs, i.e., Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas.

I am always in search of new craft ideas to do with the grandkids. Last night we mixed glue and water to make a DIY fabric stiffener for these doilies that will be used to hang in windows for the holidays.

My five-year old grandson got a bit carried away with the dipping process and we may have to let his doilies dry for another night.

Tonight, we will be using glitter spray on the snowflake doilies and then hanging them from the sliding glass doors using suction cup holders. The kids are excited and I will post the final glittered snowflakes tomorrow.

Hobby Lobby sells doilies in 12-packs at a reasonable price, or check out Ebay. Here is what you will need for this project.

50:50 ration of white glue to water. Mix well in an large mixing bowl until the consistency of milk.

Cloth doilies

Plastic garbage bag for laying out the doilies after they are immersed in the stiffener

Spray glitter product (or you can spray the dried doilies with adhesive glue spray and sprinkle with glitter

Suction cup window hangers

Invisible thread for hanging the snowflakes

Submerge each doily into the glue mixture until fully saturated. Gently squeeze away any excess liquid and lay the doily flat on the plastic garbage bag.

Allow the doilies to air dry overnight. If they still appear to be damp, let them set out until completely stiff and there is no sign of moisture.

Gently lift the doilies from the plastic bag and flip them over to allow air to completely circulate to both the front and back sides of the fabric. You can either hang the doily snowflakes as is, or add sparkle by applying iridescent glitter to each side. (see my Part 2 post for using glitter).

The stiffened doilies also look nice inside a picture frame. Remove the frame's glass and cut and cover a piece of cardboard to fit the frame opening. Burlap material works well, or use brown Kraft paper or scrapbook paper. Hot glue the doilies in place.

Thursday, December 11, 2014

This is one of the many holiday gifts that I am giving to family this Christmas season. I purchased two vintage baby walking shoes from a local thrift store (bells included). To give added weight to each shoe, I poured plaster Paris into a zip lock bag and tucked into the shoe. The plaster was still wet so it formed to the shape of the shoe.

Thrift store doily finds were tucked inside the shoe and hot glued in place. The photos are held in place by silver place card holders I had left over from a wedding event. A small pine and berries were seated in place with hot glue.

Decorative scrapbook punches can be used to dress up the photo backing. To add to the vintage flair, I place satin ribbon just below the shoe tongue. The doily behind the picture was Mod-Podged to make it stiff (lay it flat for 24 hours to stiffen) and then glued to the picture back.

These cute keepsake frames look adorable on a fireplace mantel or bookcase.

Saturday, November 15, 2014

These Robo-Soaps are fun and easy to make using Mold Market's Robot mold. There are countless variations you can use with our GPE water dissolving paper. We have even included a FREE template in this post.

Here are a few of the soaps made by Sophie Soap Chick. Instructions to make Robo-Soaps are given below. These soaps are perfectly sized for little hands.

Here's What You Need:

Mold Market's Robot Mold

Water Dissolving Paper ( to print Robot Chest Parts)

Fragrance Oil and Soap Colorants

Clear and white Soap Base

Alcohol Spray

Soap Injector Tool

To make the robot, melt 7 cubes of Clear Soap Base in the microwave. Heat in a glass measuring cup in short bursts of heat until melted. The pouring temperature should be about 140 degrees.

Select chest designs and colors to coordinate with the color of the eyes, hands, feet, and main body. So depending on what design you choose, pick a color that corresponds with it.

If you want to keep the robot plain, pour a thin layer of Clear Soap Base and once almost set, gently lay the cut out of the robot chest down in that area and spray the alcohol spray on the back to make it lay properly. Once that was close to being set, continue with another layer of clear and repeat until finished filling the mold.

If you want the eyes, feet, and hands to be another color: melt a cube of White Soap Base and mix that with the color of your choice and add fragrance. Use the Soap Injector Tool to fill in those areas.

When these areas have set up, pour a layer of clear soap base and follow the above steps to get your perfect robot.

If you wanted to have a shine through of color as well you would continue with all the above steps and once you are at the last level to pour, use a color instead of clear.

Sophie Soap Chicks Review:
No matter what way you choose, you can’t go wrong with this awesome mold!

Melt 4 cubes of White Soap Base and add fragrance (Make sure to use a
fragrance that is clear so it does not cause the white to be a
yellow color, if that happens no need to worry! Just use a drop or
so of White Colorant.

Spray alcohol spray into
the Large Bath Bomb Mold and pour in the white soap and finish off

with
a few more spray of alcohol. While this sets up, melt 8
cubes of Clear Soap Base in the same manner as used for the white base. Add a few drops of Black Oxide Colorant and fragrance oil; gently stir together.

Spray alcohol spray into the cupcake bottom
mold and pour until full. Pour the remaining soap into the Jelly Roll Tray.

Once the soap in Jelly Roll is set up, carve out the eyes and stitched mouth. Attach them all together using a
little bit of melted down clear soap base. Once set, you have
yourself a spooky spin off of a well known Halloween movie that
everyone will know and love!